this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: looking for the bottom. share markets across asia tumble following the us market meltdown. the dow suffers its worst day since the financial crisis in 2008. will it spread to europe? going too far too fast. i'll be speaking to our correspondents in new york and singapore for the latest. and we'll be getting an expert view from a seasoned market watcher. in other news: crisis in the maldives as police arrest two seniorjudges and a former president after a 15—day state of emergency is declared and the eu's chief brexit negotiator tells britain that trade barriers will be "unavoidable" if the uk leaves the customs union. a warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know

in global news, business, and sport. and as per usual, you can be part of the conversation. today we're asking what do you make of the white—knuckle ride on financial markets? is this a correction or panic? what are you doing with your money? comments to #bbcthebriefing. so, let's get started. fasten your seatbelts, the turbulent ride for the world's financial markets is far from over and now traders here in europe

are gearing up for a stressful day. in the us, the dowjones index closed, 4.6% lower. during the trading day on wall street, it saw its biggest decline in history, extending sharp losses at the end of last week, when strong wage growth raised the prospect of accelerated interest rate rises. the malaise has already spread to asia. the nikkei is down over 5% and the hang seng is down over 4.5%. the dow lost over 1,100 points and a quarter of the trump rally has now been wiped out. i'll have an expert view with me in the studio in a moment, but first this report from katie silver. little did they know, they were ringing in the bell on what was to be the worst day on wall street in a decade. the dow jones industrial average, which measures the performance of 30 major companies, fell by an unprecedented 1,175 points. and it wasn't the only index to tumble. the nasdaq composite dropped almost 3.8%, while the s&p 500 lost more than 4%,

its biggest drop since 2011. the trouble began last friday when new figures showed wages in the us were growing faster than expected. investors predict that a rise in salaries will cause more people to spend more, pushing up inflation. and if there's a rise in inflation, the us federal reserve will hike interest rates, which the market doesn't like. the wall street plunge isn't a good look for donald trump, who has repeatedly touted its successes during his 13 months as president. the white house responded to the current sell—off, saying there's always concern when the market loses any values, but they're confident in the economy's fundamentals. the malaise has spread to asian markets. in australia, stocks were down almost 2.6% at the open. the benchmark asx 200 has already lost almost $41 billion us,

and the trading day is only halfway done. the nikkei index ofjapan dived more than 5% in early trading. it is coming off a 26—year high and was expected to correct itself, but quite this steeply. while in hong kong, stocks have plunged almost 3% at the opening. how the markets will fare as the trading day continues, though, remains to be seen. katie silver, bbc news. there have been falls of more than 296 in there have been falls of more than 2% in other asian markets. investors are looking at european markets, many of which closed down 1.5% yesterday. the bbc news app is right across

this. the business live page is updating as well. you and i have been here before, but not quite as extreme as what we have seen in the last 2a hours. give us your take on the sharp decline in the us felt in asia. it is shocking because it has been a nine—year bull market, especially in equities. these clawbacks, and it is a clawback, correctional panic, correctional crash, taking a breather... it is more than a breather!” crash, taking a breather... it is more than a breather! i would disagree. look at the underlying data. the economy is still really

strong and steady. there are various bits of research that have come out in the past few days saying fundamentally things are pretty good. we came into 2018, a great ride, carried on into january, and people got nervous. what was the trigger? the increase of wages on friday in the us? unemployment data? was that the trigger? we were asking in the newsroom, is there something out there we do not know, the rumour about the replacement forjanet yellen at the fed? a fear factor? there has been a fear factor in the market for a good part of last year. people do not know what they don't know. that's the key thing. jerome powell, the new chair of the federal reserve. the market began to get used to hikes in the us. wage

numbers are frothy. that is what people are figuring out. that is what is considered a correction. thank you for that. he will be back to look at the stories in the media today. we will get our teeth into those later. and i will speak to another market watcher for another view from asia later on. we are looking ahead to the european day which starts in a few hours. it's been an eventful 2a hours in the maldives, where the president, abdulla yameen, has declared a state or emergency, giving sweeping powers to the security forces. police have arrested the former head of state, maumoon abdul gayoom and security forces have been sent into the supreme court, where two judges have also been detained. the opposition has described the president's actions as a purge. joining me now is our south asia

correspondent, justin rowlatt. just talk us through what has been going on in the last 2a hours. just talk us through what has been going on in the last 24 hours. well, we have to go further back to understand what has been happening. last week, the supreme court of the maldives ordered a group of political prisoners, people arrested under terrorism charges but members of the opposition party, be released. nine of them, including the former president, bashid. they also ordered 12 mps who switched sides, leaving the ruling party for the opposition, have positions reinstated. that would effectively end the majority the current president, abdulla yameen, has in parliament, opening the possibility that he could be impeached by parliament. he suspended the parliament. he suspended the parliament last week. there was a growing protest in the streets. the supreme court was ready to impeach

the president, at which point there was this unfolding story with the judges arrested, and this former president, a member of the opposition, also arrested. trouble for the maldives. the opposition in sri lanka at the moment, they describe this as effectively imposing martial law in the maldives. they say this is an illegal coup. the presidency is controlled through the army. they are describing it as a crisis for the maldives. there is no question they are in trouble. they are consumed by political conflicts now. 0k. for now, thank you very much indeed, justin rowlatt. and now for some of the other news making the headlines. the disgraced former doctor larry nassar has been sentenced to another 40 to 125 years in prison for sexual abusing young female athletes. he already faces a lifetime in jail for two earlier sentences. the latest sentence ends criminal

proceedings against nassar, the former usa gymnastics team doctor. the south african president is under mounting pressure to step down. senior members of the governing anc have been meeting in emergency session to discuss his political future. it's thought party leaders want jacob zuma to leave office ahead of the state of the nation address to parliament on thursday. the british—born actor who played one of tv‘s most popular screen dads in the us sitcom "frasier," john mahoney, has died in chicago aged 77. he was famous for his role as martin crane, a grumpy, down—to—earth retired policeman who often outwits his two pretentious sons. the role earned him two emmy and two golden globe nominations. a congressional panel has voted unanimously in favour of releasing a democratic rebuttal to a controversial republican memo.

the document alleged that there was bias by the fbi and thejustice department against president trump. mr trump now has five days to decide whether to declassify the document. democrats argue that americans must be able to see both sides of the argument to make their own judgements. from washington, david willis reports. the president arrived back at the white house just in time to hear the latest twist in the battle of the memos. good evening. this evening, the house intelligence committee will release the response to the nunes memo. we feel this will help them inform the public of the distortions and inaccuracies in the majority memo. the majority is memo released last friday was compiled by

republicans, alleging a culture of political bias among part of the justice department and the fbi. in particular it claims the fbi have relied on a dossier compiled by a former british spy, christopher steele, to convince a court to grant aid surveillance warrant on a format donald trump campaign aide without revealing the dossier was funded by the hillary clinton campaign. normal non—partisan scrutiny of the nation's intelligence services has 110w nation's intelligence services has now been rent asunder, with democrats branding the republican memo a misrepresentation of the fa cts , memo a misrepresentation of the facts, and say there are accounts of the fbi will provide crucial contacts to the agency's actions. they have also branded the intelligence committee's chairman, nunes, asa intelligence committee's chairman, nunes, as a stooge doing the bidding of the white house. for his part, donald trump to the twitter to hail him a man of tremendous courage who will some day the recognised as a great american hero. he previously

referred to the minority leader on that committee as a little adam schiff, one of the biggest liars and lea kers schiff, one of the biggest liars and leakers in washington. and this was the response of. people would appreciate it if you turned off the tv. democrats say that by calling into question the integrity of senior law enforcement officials, the republicans are simply seeking to undermine the work of this man, the special counsel, robert waller, whose investigation into allegations of collusion between the donald trump campaign and russia is thought to be nearing its end. president trump has said the republican memo vindicates him as far as the investigation is concerned. he has to sign off on the democratic memo before it can be released to be given it less flattering appraisal, the question is will he do so? david willis, bbc news, washington. stay with us on the briefing.

also on the programme: pressure mounts on the chelsea boss after another abysmal performance. this is the moment that millions in iran had been waiting for. after his long years in exile, the first hesitant steps of ayatollah khomeini on iranian soil. south africa's white government has offered its black opponents concessions unparalleled in the history of apartheid. the ban on the african national congress is lifted immediately, and the anc leader, nelson mandela, after 27 years injail, is to be set free unconditionally. the aircraft was returning from belgrade, where manchester united had entered the semi—final of the european cup. two americans have become the first humans to walk in space without any lifeline to their spaceship. one of them called it "a piece of cake". thousands of people have given the yachstwoman ellen macarthur

a spectacular homecoming in the cornish port of falmouth after she smashed the world record for sailing solo around the world non—stop. you're watching the briefing. 0ur headlines: and our top story — the dowjones suffers its biggest drop in more than six years. asian stock markets have followed those in the united states and have fallen steeply. we are looking ahead to how the european trading day will begin. let's stay with that now. david kuo is a stock market analyst for motley fool in singapore. he is based in singapore, where he is in our bureau right now. nice to see you, david. what is your thinking? are you thinking this is a scary correction or is it a crash?

well, neither of those two things. i think it is a great buying opportunity. i think if you have a look at what has been happening, the global economy is actually improving. we are getting synchronised growth and, perversely, the stock—market crash has been caused by the fact we are getting some good economic numbers, particularly in america. so it will be short lived and the good times will return, is that your thinking? i should think so. up until recently many of the people who were forced into the stock market were being pushed into buying shares because there were no alternatives for them. if they put their money into the bank they earned nothing, they could not really afford to buy property and rent it out because the rental yields were so low, and bond prices we re yields were so low, and bond prices were coming down. consequently, they we re were coming down. consequently, they were forced to go into the stock market in order to generate some kind of income, presumably through things like utilities, where they would actually get a decent yield.

now there is talk about interest rates going up in america people now have a choice, they can say do i wa nt to have a choice, they can say do i want to stay in the stock market or should i take my money out now, given the fact they have had ten yea rs pretty given the fact they have had ten years pretty good returns from the stock market and use that cash and wait for interest rates to go up. but, david, why such an intense fall on the dowjones yesterday, it is triggering a similar fall on the dowjones yesterday, it is triggering a similarfall in on the dowjones yesterday, it is triggering a similar fall in asia right now. 0ver triggering a similar fall in asia right now. over 1000 triggering a similar fall in asia right now. 0ver1000 points in one session, why do you think that was so session, why do you think that was so severe? we knew about all of the situation on friday when the jobs report came out, why yesterday afternoon was yellow i think it is because a lot of people did not quite believe there was inflation in the system. we had been told by 70 different central banks that there is not a great deal of inflation and many is not a great deal of inflation and ma ny a nalysts have is not a great deal of inflation and many analysts have been saying there is no inflation in the system —— so many. suddenly on friday there was a

jobs report saying wages are going up jobs report saying wages are going up in america. one of the things i said to people that you have to look out for is the output gap. what kind of capacity does any economy have in order to produce what they need to produce. 0nce order to produce what they need to produce. once that gap starts to narrow, that is when you start having problems, because it means a lot of companies will find it difficult to get workers and in order to try to attract workers they have to pay higher wages. if they pay higher wages than that slowly feeds into consumer price inflation, in other words the inflation we all experience. 0k, david, thank you. david kuojoining us from singapore. motley fool is a global organisation that make sense for private investors, not hedge fund managers, that kind of thing. interesting to get his take. many have been in touch. many are saying it is a correction driven by rate rises,

some say it is a panic/ vea scenario thatis some say it is a panic/ vea scenario that is driving a correction that was needed. some of your sangyo keeping money in cash right now. interesting to to get your views. —— some of you are saying. here in the uk, the prime minister's decision to rule out membership of any kind of customs union after brexit will mean new trade barriers on british goods and services. that was the warning from the european union's chief brexit negotiator, michel barnier, in downing street on monday. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg reports. in a hurry. notjust to catch the 1056 from brussels to london. we have not a minute to lose, because we want to achieve a deal. but the eu's chief negotiator wants to press on. it is time for bargaining, he says, as the next round of brexit talks loom. the first priority for him and his host david davis is to agree what happens straight after brexit. do you know what the british

government wants? the two years or so timeframe, not much will change but the real posturing is about the longer term. theresa may popped in for a drink after reminding her party that she wants out of the single market free trade area and the current customs union. but she knows, along with these two, there might be mishaps along the way. 0ur negotiating team is starting straightaway, tomorrow certainly, on an intensive period of negotiation and are confident we can get that agreement. yet while this might sound elegant in a french accent it is still a warning. without the customs union, outside the single market, barriers to trade and goods and services are unavoidable. time has come to make choice. in other words, foreign secretary and others, make your mind up.

the eu has consistently said we can't keep the best bits of the eu without losing somewhere. but that has always been rejected by brexiteers. what my side wants, what most of the country wants is a good deal. the way to get a good deal is to be very clear that we are leaving, we are leaving the single market, leaving the customs union. the fear of others in the tory party and parliament is that the eurosceptics are too close to no ten. this week the prime minister hopes to get the cabinet to find a compromise. what is more important, sticking close to the eu or making the most of freedom outside? we've heard a lot of, we are not going to do this, we are not going to do that. what are we going to do? that is what we're waiting to hear, that is what the 27 countries the uk's negotiating with are waiting to hear. in the meantime this uncertainty is really, really bad for business. number 10 has to make

bargains within its party as well as with the eu outside. today's talks were about the eu and the uk plugging back in before the next charged round of negotiations really gets going but arguably for there to be meaningful progress any time soon the uk ministers have to speed up their decisions about their overall approach. none of the questions are easy but after months of squabbling time to discuss becomes time to decide. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. the authorities in—run have arrested 29 people as part of a crackdown on protests against the compulsory hijab. it started after a woman take off her headscarf in central tehran. we ta ke off her headscarf in central tehran. we take up the story. across the

rhine, it is... to talk to us about what you are thinking today, with the markets around the world bobbling extremely. we will have more in business briefing, which is coming up injust a moment. banks are your thoughts. we will have more in the next half hour. see you in a moment. halloo. it will remain cold for all of us this week, pretty typical early february weather. tuesday start of cold and frosty and there will be some so in the forecast. it should improve through the day with good spells of sunshine. there is the weather front lying across northern england and parts of wales, the so first thing. it would have cleared northern ireland scotland during the overnight period. a cold and frosty start. plenty of wintry showers to the north—west of scotla nd showers to the north—west of scotland and northern ireland. some with pale. further snowfalljust to

the accumulations. this weather front will bring a centimetre of snow to northern england, wales, and the north—west midlands, mainly range was the south—west. for the midlands eastwards, a cold and frosty start. largely dry with some sunshine. that weather front will sink suffers an eastwards. the time it reaches the it will be no more than a layer of cloud, the odd bit of sleet and snow. for east anglia and the south—east we should hold on to the sunshine. though the north and west it should be bright with sunshine and further wintry showers at times. that weather front may pep up at times. that weather front may pep up again as we head into tuesday evening, could bring a centimetre or so evening, could bring a centimetre or so to east anglia. then it away. skies are clearfor so to east anglia. then it away. skies are clear for most places. tuesday night, wednesday morning will be a cold one, the coldest of the week with temperatures well below freezing many areas. mine is double figures across scotland in particular where there is snow. a

ridge of high pressure bring sunshine to much of the country for wednesday. we look to the west for this weather front which will bring increasing cloud, outbreaks of rain, and a brief surge of milder air, which will make inroads late on tuesday, into wednesday, into thursday. a glorious cold start at a loss of sunshine around. that weather front will move into the north and west, increase of cloud an outbreak of rain. there will be some snow over the higher ground. it should stay dry and sunny across central and eastern areas all day. into thursday, a cloudy day. coming from the south—west. that averages are mild. then things turn cooler into friday. a ridge of high pressure, plenty of sunshine. and it stays cold into the following weekend. this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. correction or collapse? asian markets follow the us into the red after the dowjones suffers its biggest one—day fall in history. will the oil giant,

bp, buck the trend? the company is expected to post some impressive numbers as the price of crude recovers. these are the financial markets. that was the big crash on the dow. the nikkei is down significantly. hong kong having a bad we will tell you everything you everything you need to know.